In the known booster cable assemblies, the handles of the cables only include a small sleeve of plastic material around the conductive handles of the assemblies. This results in large conductive areas of the handles exposed. Recently, the handles have been manufactured to include a thermoplastic surrounding the majority of the handle, however, this arrangement still leaves the clamps or jaws of the handles exposed. In the case of inadvertent disconnection of a handle from a battery terminal during a boosting procedure, the remaining uninsulated area is likely to contact other metal surfaces. This disconnection results in sparking, potential battery heating, damage, or explosion. Additionally, late model automobiles having digital electronic instrumentation systems are particularly sensitive to such conditions.
Various insulated handle assemblies are known in the art, one of which is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,688. In this document, Merio discloses a handle assembly having a pair of half body portions of the handle which comprise an insulating material. Each body includes a metal jaw for contact with a body terminal. A similar arrangement is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,905. A primary limitation of this arrangement is that the conductive jaws are integral with the insulation and, in the event of breakage of the handles, the apparatus is no longer useful.
Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,199, there is disclosed a handle assembly in which the handles are coated with non-electroconductive material. The effectiveness of this application is inherently limited due to a susceptibility of the coating to flake, chip or become ineffective from oxidation etc.
The present invention eliminates these limitations and hazards of the known arrangement, by completely encapsulating the handles and clamps of battery booster cables within an elastic and electrically insulating body. In order to connect the cables to battery terminals, the handles of the cables are compressed which will only then expose the clamp for connection to a battery post. In this way, inadvertent disconnection will result in a completely encapsulated and therefore electrically neutral booster cable.